This invention relates to hair rollers and, more particularly, to an improved form of cylindrically shaped hair roller which may be stored flat.
In U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 741,611 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,370 which is filed concurrently herewith and which is assigned to the assignee of this invention, there is disclosed an improved form of hair roller. The hair roller described in the copending application is resistant to bending and buckling and is formed by first and second, generally planar shaped, flexible roller members which are hinge coupled along edges of the members and are expandable into a body having a generally cylindrically shaped configuration.
The referred-to copending application describes a fastener means for maintaining the body in a cylindrically shaped configuration. The fastening means includes a fastener member hinged to one of the roller members. It is rotatable about its hinge for flattening the body into a planar configuration and upon expansion to a cylindrical body, is rotatable about its hinge to extend across an inner space of the cylindrically shaped body and engage the opposite roller member. Fastening engagement is accomplished by the use of a tab segment formed on the fastener member and a slotted aperture formed in the opposite roller member for receiving the tab segment. The hair roller is reusable and the tab which engages the slot is subject to wear. For this reason and because excessive force can be applied to the fastener member during expansion to a cylindrical body, the tab will at times fail to make engagement and the fastener member will travel past the slot and undesirably extend beyond a distal edge of the body.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved fastener means for a hair roller of the type described.
Another object of the invention is to provide a fastener means which inhibits travel of the fastener member beyond a distal edge of the hair roller.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved fastener means wherein the means for engaging the fastener are integrally formed in the fastener member.